The Philadelphia Flyers announced their full Stanley Cup Playoff roster for phase 4 on July 26th. The roster includes 31 players total – 17 forwards, 10 defensemen and four goalies. Among the goaltenders selected to travel to Toronto with the team is Kirill Ustimenko, former netminder for the Reading Royals of the ECHL. He is joined by goalies Alex Lyon, Brian Elliot and Carter Hart.
The Flyers selected Ustimenko as a third-round draft pick in 2017. The now-cancelled 2019-20 ECHL season was Ustimenko’s rookie debut where he quickly became a fan favourite. During his time in Reading, he served in net for 31 games.
During his time as a Royal, Ustimenko achieved a 19-4-5-0 record. He maintained a 2.40 goals against average and a .919 save percentage. These stats positioned Ustimenko at seventh and ninth in the league respectively.
Ustimenko made his AHL debut with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms on February 8th. There, he blocked a total of 39 shots in a 5-3 win over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. He served the Phantoms for five games before COVID-19 forced the season to a halt. His short-lived tenure as a Phantom was noted with a 1-3-1 record, a 3.84 goals against average and a .889 save percentage.
Ustimenko is one of six former Royals who are currently participating in the Stanley Cup playoffs this year. This includes goalies James Reimer, Phillip Grubauer and Michael Hutchinson as well as a pair of forwards, including Vegas’s Deryk Engelland and Vancouver’s Antoine Roussel. The Flyers kicked off the NHL’s return to play on Tuesday with a 3-2 win over Pittsburgh in overtime. It was Philadelphia’s lone exhibition game prior to the start of the NHL play-in round.
Round robin play for the Flyers gets underway on Sunday at 3:00pm ET. The Flyers face the Boston Bruins at Scotiabank Arena in downtown Toronto. The game is available for viewing on Sportsnet Ontario in NBC. The game is also being carried on TVA Sports to be watched in French.